Love What You Do

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Name (as applicable): Personal Development and Career Planning

  Course Title: Personal Development and Career Planning

  Course Number: 8500430

  Career Cluster: Human Services

  CIP Number: 09209921CE

  Course Type: Middle School

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, "Career Choice Changes." See CPALMS Resource ID#221977.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson connects academic learning to real-world careers by having students apply their personal knowledge to identify personal strengths and weaknesses that can contribute to future education and career choices.

  It allows students to identify and practice durable skills for professional development and engagement. Through the domain of communication, students will practice the skills of verbal and non-verbal communication during an interview as they convey mindfulness and knowledge about the researched career path. In the domain of metacognition, students will demonstrate their use of effective planning of questions and justified presentation of goals, skills, and expectations of the career.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Identify a career cluster and related pathway that matches their career and education goals.
  • Research a career position and prepare for a simulated job interview.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • Online research.
  • Participating in group discussions and presenting organized information.

• Guiding Questions

  
  

  ? How can identifying interests and skills contribute to career path choice?

  ? How are durable skills effective in career choice and success?

• Procedure

  
  

  Introduction:

  The teacher will ask students to mentally reflect on strengths and weaknesses of skills they have and think about interests such as extracurricular activities and hobbies.

  Students will individually create a T-chart of their personal interests and skills on notebook paper. As an added option, teachers can have students complete an interest survey the teacher finds online.

  Using the T-chart students will begin to research career clusters that contain similar interests or skills they identified. This initial research should be brief in order to help students focus their future research on a specific career cluster and path. See Teacher Notes for information.

  • As the students research different career clusters, they can begin to determine what career or career path might be a best fit for them.
  • Students should share what they found in whole/small groups.

  Case Study:

  Before introducing the case study, the teacher can provide the students with the Career Vocabulary handout (see attachments) to discuss vocabulary from career employment and durable skills.

  • Select 3-5 of the terms to focus discussion on, based on the needs of students and the class. The teacher will guide a whole class discussion about the vocabulary, clarifying definitions and providing examples as needed.
  • Students can take notes on the attachment to help with career research.

  Provide students with the case study, “Career Choice Changes,” (see CPALMS resource ID#221977) and allow them time to read (individually or in small groups) and identify by highlighting or underlining vocabulary or examples of vocabulary within the text.

  Begin discussion with students about what vocabulary and/or examples they identified during reading. Elicit discussion about the case study using the following discussion questions.

  • What is Adam struggling with? Where do you see durable skills or career skills?
  • What are some pros and cons Adam identifies in volunteering versus his career?
  • What factors are affecting Adam’s dilemma of changing careers?
  • How can Adam improve his situation volunteering at the shelter and at his workplace?
  • How do Adam’s friends help him through his reflection?
  • What do you think Adam’s outcome will be in his decision making?
  • What durable skills is Adam using to work through his concerns?

  Research:

  Provide and explain the expectations for student research, including the various career elements such as income, responsibilities, and education or training. Provide students with the Interview Notes handout that includes the information students should research.

  Students will then research and organize the various career elements that the student is interested in. The goal is to provide an opportunity for students to display not only interests but also personal skills and education combined with the durable skills and personal traits that should be considered for the career or job they have chosen to research. Students should cite and use information from credible resources, such as the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, college websites with degree information, or career organization websites (e.g., American Nurses Association).

  Last, students will spend 2-4 minutes presenting (either to the teacher or to a peer) information about the career and answering questions in a scenario of an interviewee for a position in the career the student chose.

  Teachers can use the following general interview questions. Provide these on a handout to students if they are doing peer interviews.

  • What interests you about this position/career?
  • What are some of your strengths that you can bring to this position/career?
  • What are some of your future goals related to this position/career?

  Closure:

  To bring the lesson to a close, the teacher can pose the following future career connection questions for discussion.

  • How do your current classes, hobbies, and activities align with the careers that interest you?
  • What can you do to learn more about the careers that interest you?
  • What careers might you consider as a backup plan?
  • What are your areas for growth in relation to the careers you are interested in?
  • How would you define success in a career?

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • This lesson can be completed over 2 class periods as needed.
  • For career cluster information, visit CPALMS.org for Career and Technical Education career clusters and selected pathways.